Biography
In the summer of 2019, searches were carried out at the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kaluga. One of them, Roman Makhnev, was placed in a pre-trial detention center. During this period, the believer lost his father, and the care of a country house with stove heating fell entirely on the shoulders of two women—a 93-year-old grandmother and Roman's retired mother, Nataliya. When her son was in jail, the woman's house burned down.
Roman was born in the Ural mining town of Gubakha (Perm Territory). He has a younger sister. Their mother has worked all her life in the field of education, has the title of Honored Teacher and Excellence in Public Education. In 1988, the family moved to the Kaluga region, to the village of Luzhnoye.
In his youth, Roman was a radio amateur, and was also fond of modeling aircraft and ships and was engaged in the repair of household appliances. During his school years, he liked the work of an electrician, and from time to time he worked in this field. After school, Roman entered the Bauman Moscow State Technical University in Kaluga and in 1999 successfully graduated from it, receiving the specialty of designer-technologist for the design and production of electronic equipment.
In 2002, Roman married Anna. A few years later, their daughter Darya was born. All together they love to go fishing and travel. The head of the family helps others in his spare time in repairing electrical equipment and maintaining cars. Before his arrest, he worked as a telecommunications engineer.
Even before marriage, Roman became interested in the Bible. He was amazed at the accuracy of her prophecies and realized that he wanted to act in accordance with the Christian knowledge he had received.
In August 2019, while Roman was behind bars, his father died. He had cancer, and the stress of the criminal prosecution of his son aggravated his condition. The believer was unable to attend the funeral.
Friends helped Roman and his family cope with numerous difficulties. In his final plea, he said: "Thank you for your invaluable help to my family. You wrote letters of support, came to court hearings, always helped both in word and deed. Words cannot express my gratitude for helping my mother when her house burned down and I was in jail at that time. You took care of her and restored the house."